Are journalists the new microinfluencers?

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One month ago, I was sitting in a hotel room in Dallas, Texas, staring anxiously at my laptop. I had spent the week on tour hawking my newsletter like a traveling salesman and had just hit publish on the first story. Soon, I would get an idea of whether this could be a full-time job.

I still haven’t figured out everything “this” entails, but so far, it’s a lot. It’s appearing on TV and radio and podcasts and documentaries. It’s writing more than I’ve ever written before. It’s every single part of the editorial process, from pitching story ideas to myself to editing the thumbnail to writing captions for social media posts. It’s trying to figure out which aspects of my work and life I can monetize, how many hours I can work in a day, and whether I can stay reasonably sane. Still undecided on the last point.

In a lot of ways, “this” has been my dream come true. It’s the model I learned about from watching content creators. It’s a growing model for journalism in particular. When I got laid off, it was the obvious path. It’s also an unstable path, and once you find yourself on it, you start to realize how shaky it is for everyone.

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• I listened to Gavin Newsom’s podcast with bigot and conspiracy theorist Charlie Kirk and explained why it’s not just bad, but actively harmful to its listeners. 

• Niche internet personalities are selling out venues. I published a detailed diary of Adam McIntyre’s YouTube drama tour that drew screaming crowds of young women in cities across the U.S. in February. 

• After the Oscars, I wrote about how people are harassing YouTube film critics who liked Emilia Pérez. I also met Abby Lee Miller from Dance Moms.

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